Promoting strong local member-based associations to act as champions of transparency and consumer protection leads to more ethical and fair treatment of clients of financial services.

“Responsible finance” in its broadest meaning can be understood as a guiding principle for how financial services should be delivered to meaningfully contribute to sustainable development. One of the critical dimensions of financial sector responsibility is fair treatment of clients and acting in ways that protect their social and economic welfare.

While significant advancements have been made in forming industry consensus on consumer protection (CP) principles, as articulated by the Smart Campaign, the adoption of improved standards of practice among financial service providers serving low income customers has lagged. Deficiencies in institutional capacity of service providers along with weak and/or nonexistent systems to measure and regulate market conduct  has meant consumers in many markets are still guaranteed few protections.

What We Aim to Achieve

We seek to catalyze large scale systemic change in local financial service markets.  Our support is designed to promote strong member-based associations to act as champions for consumer protection through standards promotion, capacity building of members and strong partnerships with governments to ensure appropriate regulation and supervision. SEEP provides organizational and financial support to microfinance associations to address capacity gaps in areas that are crucial to their successful promotion of responsible finance. Our suite of tools and expertise seeks to help associations accelerate their development, expand and improve their product and service offerings and contribute to industry-wide innovation.